


light a fire and watch it burn

by stardusting



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 15:24:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6381814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardusting/pseuds/stardusting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the world is looking for their avatar after the great flood covered the earth seventy-five years prior and brought with it larger oceans and pirates and gol d. roger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	light a fire and watch it burn

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I haven't touched ATLA since it ended way back when and I haven't watched past 3 episodes of LoK but I really love the world it builds so here we go, something short and done on whim.

Luffy remembers the first time he felt fire erupt from his veins and heat his fingertips, changing his life forever.

It was days after Sabo’s little boat went down that feelings hit him hard and fast, anger and regret and confusion hot on his tongue. There were tears in his eyes as a fire lit the grass around his feet and it was Ace who looked at him, wide eyed and confused, for a moment before there was a sudden _understanding_.

It was Ace who doused those flames and scrubbed the tears from his brother’s face, looked at him with clear cut resolve. It was much more than a child his age should have possessed, but Ace had always been special from the day he was born.

“You can’t tell anyone that you can bend fire too.” Because Luffy is a born earthbender and if fire also moved to his will then that meant a lot of things that would ruin every small thing they’ve fought so hard to build up and keep until that moment.

The world is looking for their Avatar after the great flood that covered the Earth seventy-five years prior and brought with it larger oceans, pirates, and Gol D. Roger. Ace had already lost one brother because everything is cruel, much crueler than people like to make it out to be, and in that moment he refused to hand his remaining one over to the selfish people that had a hold on the government. He won’t do it, not so that Luffy could just be prodded, poked, and put on display, made to do their bidding in the name of the greater good or whatever they liked to call it. (if it’s the same sort of justice that authorized them to shoot down sabo’s boat, then luffy should have nothing to do with it and probably never would.)

“I’ll keep you safe until I go.” He promised, hands on his brother’s thin shoulders and voice firm. Keeping secrets has always been a knack of his and if Luffy was still terrible at lying then he’ll cover for him as best he can. “But you have to do your part too.”

-

Here’s the thing: Luffy does keep the fire at bay in the presence of others because he’s more in tune with the earth and small flames are easy to smother and blame on Ace when they’re done out of excitement. (Candles that flicker with no wind presence go unnoticed and the way the water seems drawn to him whenever he walks along the sandy shores is shrugged off as the waves constantly in motion.) But he does learn along with Ace deep within the forest despite the danger, both of them learning from each other, really. Their bending style forms into something raw and dangerous and dirty: it’s quick movements and hard hits, lots of damage in a minimum amount of time. Luffy takes to shifting the earth so slight that it’s enough to stumble and trip but not enough to tip Ace off that he’s using both at once, or at least most of the time now after months of it obviously being done.

Ace is a natural, a boy born from the embers of a legend that promises to burn his own path one day. He is like the fire itself, powerful and constant, refusing to flicker out. Luffy learns the most from him (and years later he will claim that none of his other teachers quite compare and he will speak it like it’s the truth and maybe it just is) in the days spent sparing and laughing and living.

People that don’t know, all the people in the village, find it amazing that Luffy wants to be a pirate because there are never many earthbenders that become pirates, not when there isn’t ground beneath their feet for miles and miles which would drive any man insane. But they don’t know that he’s drawn to the water just as much as he’s drawn to the earth, can feel the ebb and flow of the tides as easy as he can feel black dirt between his toes with each step.

It’s a confusing and surreal thing, causes him to look out at the ocean or look up to the moon for hours during his rarer moments of quiet.

Ace reassures himself that it’s just an Avatar thing when he finds himself half worried when Luffy gets like that and squashes the feeling down because if his brother really is the Avatar (and he is, there is no doubt because Luffy is made of impossible stuff) then of course he’d feel a connection to all four elements. They are surrounded by water, after all, and at least one of Luffy’s parents is probably ( _has to be_ ) a pirate who already has a love for water in their blood so it’d be ridiculous for him to not feel that pull in his bones because Ace feels it too even when water is his natural enemy.

It’s just how things are and how they will be long after both brothers get a boat and sail off, one after the other, nothing holding them back and what’s moving them forward is wind in their sails and bigger dreams on the horizon.

**Author's Note:**

> One day I want to make this into something big.
> 
> That is Luffy as an unconventional Avatar that doesn't necessarily follow the old rules and customs. A bit selfish in the sense that he wants to be Pirate King, not put on some pedestal and treated like a god of some sort or deal with all the "keeping peace" that goes along with the job. An Avatar that raises hairs and raises spirits all in the same act, one that the people are split in two about because they're not sure if they love him or should be wary of him because he brandishes the banner of a pirate and isn't afraid to break a few faces and make people bleed. One that doesn't like the idea of people singing their praises to him and treating him like a hero, because god damn he doesn't like it when people are chanting his name in the middle of a fight but they do it anyway, but they can't help it because he inspires and gives hope and keeps promises and the people that know him are so enthralled and enraptured because he's just that brilliant.
> 
> Yeah, one day I'll do this. When I have more time and everything thought out.


End file.
